Hammer



UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

JOSIAH P. CLARK, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

HAMMER.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,820, dated October 19, 1858.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JosmH P. CLARK, of Portland, in the county ofCumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Hammers for Driving Nails; and I do her'eby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of thisspecication, in which- Figure l represents a view of the under side ofthe metallic plate d, CZ, cl, with the opening a for inserting andholding the head of the nail; the slide Z) which by the action upon itof the spring e combined with the beveled edge of the slide holds thehead of the nail lirmly until, with one blow, the point of the nail isinserted in the wood or other material, and at the same time by therecoil of the hammer the head of the nail is released and the nail leftsticking in the place where it is to be driven, without requiring theuse of the other hand oi the carpenter or joiner to tix or hold the nailin place. Fig. Q represents a longitudinal vertical section of the same;Fig. 3 represents the slide and Fig. 4 a longitudinal vertical sectionof the same. Fig. 5 represents a carpenters hammer, with my improvementattached to it.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

My invention consists in the novel means employed for holding the nailto be driven, so that without being xed or held by the hand of thecarpenter or other person in the place where it is to be driven, thenail is by one blow of the hammer, firmly fixed in the place where it isto be driven, by means of an apparatus attached to the side of thehammer constructed and arranged substantially as herein set forth.

To enable any one skilled in the art to understand and construct myinvention, I will proceed to describe it.

To the side of a carpenters hammer I attach securely by screws, or othermeans, a metallic plate cZ, cl, d, having on its external :tace anopening a of sutlicient size to admit the introduction of the head of anail. The slide Z2 is so arranged by means of a metallic spring e, or aspiral spring, or other equivalent mechanical device, as upon theintroduction of the head of the nail, to recede sufficiently to admit ofits introduction into the aperture a, and then by the action of thespring upon the slide, the head of the nail is firmly held between theface of the slide and the edge of the metallic plate on the oppositeside of the opening. It will be seen by the sectional drawing (Fig. 4)of the slide, that the anterior edge of the slide forms an acute anglewith its exterior face at f I also use the small pin c in connectionwith the groove in the slide to regulate the extent of the movement ofthe slide; but the same thing can be accomplished by any of the otherequivalentdevices in coinmon use for such purposes. It will thus be seenthat by means of my invention, the carpenter, when he desires to drive anail in any position where he is obliged to reach above his head orwhere he needs the use of one of his hands to hold on with to keephimself from falling (as is frequently the case in nailing around andabove the windows and other openings in a house, and in many otherpositions) can first insert the nail in the aperture a and then with oneblow ot' the hammer with the use of but one hand, fix the nail in itsplace, and by the recoil of the hammer at the same time have the nailreleased from the hammer, and the hammer 4ready for use to drive thenail in the ordinary way.

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-The combination with an ordinary hamlner of the metallic plate fl, CZ,el, with an opening a and slide Z) constructed and operatingsubstantially as herein set forth and described.

JOSIAI-I P. CLARK.

Witnesses:

G. F. SHEPLEY, L. D. SHEPLEY.

